Tree for footwear



Oct. 22, l92 9. H. .n.wlLsoN TREE FOR FOOTWEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledOct. 2, 1925 QTTQRNEYS.

Oct. 22, 1929. H. J. wlLsoN TREE FOR FOOTWEAR Filed Oct. 2, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet 2 mviNToR W. Zm/

BY www mfomvs.

and preferably also Patented Oct. 22, 1929 HAMLET JOHN WILSON,

or ALTRINCHAM, ENGLAND TREE FOR lFOOTVTEAR y Application -led October 2,1928, Serial No. 309,734, and in Great Britain March 21, 1928.

This invention relates to an improved tree for boots, shoes or the like.

There is a boot tree already in common use in which the toe-piece isconnected to a heel piece through the medium of pivoted rods whichengage with each other by means of a central sliding member and aresecured by a pin and socket mechanism or a plate and slot ln anotherform of device proposed the heelpiece and the toe-.piece themselves weremade of such substantial dimensions as almost to fill the entire shoeand were spaced apart by a screw thread or rack and pinion mechanism.

According to one feature of the present invention I provide a tree for`boots or shoes formed of a toe-piece, aheel-piece and an operatingmember secured between the two O adapted to fill up the whole width ofthe boot or shoe and Aprovided with mechanism for progressively spacingapart the toe-piece and heel-piece. By thus providing an operatingmember which is separable from the toe-piece from the lieel-piece it ispossible to utilize a central operating member which can be used forseveral sizes of feet. At the same time the width of the operatingmember tends to prevent creasing of the leather at the sides of theshoes and to prevent deformation due to indirect thrust between thetoe-piece and heelpiece.

According to another feature of the invention l provide a tree for bootsand shoes formed of a toe-piece, a heel-piece and an operating membersecured between the two adapted by the provision of a spiral thread on aplate member meshing with a slot or slots to but in practice the resultsare not take up its correct position in threaded central Y rod to spaceaway the toe-piece and heel-piece. 1

`erating member.

toenpiece of any suitable size without corresponding variation of thevspace apart the toe-piece and heel-piece to the desired extent.Preferably the toe-piece is pivotally mounted Von an extending memberwhichis provided with a rack meshing with the spiral thread in theoperating member. The toe-piece and the heel-piece may readily bereplaced by others of different size if desired. The heel-piece is'preferably adjustable and may be provided with a screw threaded shankand lockl nut for this purpose. l

Preferably the toe-piece and heel-piece are mounted on horizontal pivotsto facilitate insertion in the shoe and to' enable the tree to the shoe.

The mechanism including a spiral thread on aflat platemeshing with arack or spot on a bar is particularly simple, compact and economical andis very effective in operation to enable the tree'to be used as astretcher if desired. By turning the operating plate with a key orhandle the toe-piece and heellpiecev can be spaced apart to any desiredeX- tent and will remain in the set position as long as required. v l

A preferred form of the invention will now l be described withreferenceto the accompanying drawings in whic Y e Figure 1 shows asectional elevation of a tree constructed in accordance with the presentinvention; 80

pFigure'Q, is a plan view partly in section without the operating key,and

Figure 3 is'an inverted plan view of the op- In the drawing thetoe-piecelis secured by rivets 2to a bifurcated connection 3 pivoted at 4 to anextension strip 5. The inner end of this extension strip 5 is formed asa rack with teeth 6 and proyects into the main casing 7. It is suitablyguided by a cover 23 securedsgo by screws' 24 to the casing 7 A pin 8 onthe cover 23 engages a longitudinal slot 9 in the strip 5 to preventsagging.

A rotatable plate 10 is provided with a bushing 11 stepped into thecasing 7, and a 95 spiral thread 15, preferably of Archimedean formwhich engages the teeth 6 of the rack. An operating handle 16 isconnected to upstanding projections 18 of the bushing 11 by a pivot pin17 This permits the handle 16 100 to pivot as shown to the dottedposition when not in use.

The heel-piece 19 is secured by a pivot 20 to the casing 7.

The invention is not, of course, limited to the form of constructionshown since various modifications may be made Without departing from thescope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Thus theoperating Y handle may be in the form of a Vdetachable key. It may alsobe bifurcated and fitted over the bush of the rotatable plate member,

being secured by a pin to enable it to drop when not in use. Thetoe-piece and heel` i5 piece may be of skeleton form if desired.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. A tree for boots and shoes comprising a flat casing adapted to fillup substantially the entire Width of the footgear, a plate memberprovided with a flat spiral thread housed therein, a handle upwardlyextending through said casing' for rotation of said plate member, aheel-piece pivotally secured to the rear of said casing, a rod extendingfor- Wardly through said casing, a toe-piece pivotallyselcured to saidrod', and a rack formed on said rod meshing with said flat spiralthread.

2. In an eXtensible tree for boots and shoes,

an operating member comprising a easing .30 adapted to fill upsubstantially the entire Width of the footgear, la plate memberrotatably housed therein, va flat spiral thread on ,one face of saidplate member, a longitudinally sliding ymember projecting through the vAM/all of said casing providedwith a rack meshing with said thread forexpansion of the tree, and an operating spindle lof said plate memberprojecting through the easing, and adapted to be manually rotated.

4.0 3. In any extensible tree forboots and shoes any operating membercomprising a easing adapted to til/l up substantially the entire Widthofthe footgear, a horizontal plate member rotatably housed therein,` a`spindle for said plate member projecting through vsaid i casing andterminating in a 'keyfor manual v rotation, a flat spi-ral thread vonsaid plate member, a longitudinally sliding member; housed betweenguides in `said casing and `5,0 projecting through the Wall thereof, anda rack formed on said sliding member meshing withv said spiral threadfor altering the lengthof the tree.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 15 day ofSeptember 1928.v

HAMLETAJHN WILSON.

